Food doesn't get more iconic than the cream-filled, oblong snack cake that is the Twinkie. Snowballs and Wonderbread were the building block of our childhood lunches. Maybe it's our current obsession with all-artisanal-everything, but Hostess has fallen on hard times.
The snack maker has struggled under the weight of soaring debts, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January of this year. In order to recoup their finances, the company planned to make wage and pension cuts. In response, a union strike was launched that has effected two-thirds of Hostess companies and threatens the very company they're making demands of.
The impasse resulted in a threat from the company that its doors would close if strikes continued, and it looks as though that promise is coming to pass. In a statement yesterday, Hostess' chief executive Gregory F. Rayburn said the company plans to liquidate its assets and lay off much of its 18,500 employees. "We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision," said Rayburn, "but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike.”
If the tweets in our timelines are any indication, the moment those quintessential cupcakes are pulled off supermarket shelves, it will be mayhem. This is what happens when you take away our snacks: Twitter reacts to the death of Hostess.
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